Q. When is it that an author may be considered a man of genius?

A. When he gives birth to new trains or combinations of thought, or produces some original piece of composition.

Q. What do you mean by original composition?

A. Composition which combines the distinguished quality of great excellence, with its not being an imitation of any previous production.

Q. Are these qualities very common?

A. Far from it; as it is only once or so in an age that they make their appearance.

Q. Can you mention any authors whose writings entitle them to be called men of genius?

A. Homer and Virgil in ancient, and Shakspeare, Milton, Bacon, Bunyan, and Johnson, in modern times.

CHAPTER VII.

OF TASTE.

Q. What do you mean by taste?

A. That faculty by which we are enabled to perceive and relish the beauties of composition. In a more general sense, it is a name for that faculty, or for those faculties, which fit us for receiving pleasure from what is beautiful, elegant, or excellent, in the works of Nature and art. He who derives no pleasure from such elegance, excellence, or beauty, is said to be a man of no taste; he who is gratified with that which is faulty in works of art, is a man of bad taste; and he who is pleased or displeased, according to the degree of excellence or faultiness, is a man of good

taste.

Q. What faculties or talents does good taste imply?

A. (1.) A lively imagination-by which a man is qualified for readily apprehending the meaning of an author or artist, tracing out the connection of his thoughts, and forming the same views of things which he has formed. Yet the man who is unacquainted with Nature can never be a man of taste, because he can not know whether the production of art resemble

Nature or not; and if he know not this, he can receive from the imitative arts no real satisfaction.

(2.) Another quality necessary to good taste, is a clear and distinct apprehension of things.

(3.) To this must be added a quick perception of, or a capacity of being easily and pleasurably affected with, those objects that gratify the secondary senses, particularly sublimity, beauty, harmony, and imitation. The term secondary senses, by some called internal senses, and by others emotions, have thus been described by Dr. Beattie, to whom chiefly we are indebted for this article. We perceive colors and figures by the eye; we also perceive that some colors and figures are beautiful, and others not. This power

of perceiving beauty, which the brutes have not, though they see as well as we, I call a secondary sense. We perceive sounds by the ear; we also perceive that certain combinations of sound have harmony, and that others are dissonant. This power of perceiving harmony, called in common language a musical ear, is another secondary sense, which the brutes have not, and of which many men who hear well enough are utterly destitute. Of these secondary senses there are many in the human constitution, among others those of novelty, sublimity, beauty, imitation, harmony, and ridicule, which, together with sympathy, form what is called good taste. pleasures received from the secondary senses are, by Addison and Akenside, called pleasures of imagina

tion.

The

The only way of improving the secondary senses is by studying Nature and the best performances in art; by cultivating habits of virtue; and by keeping at a distance from every thing gross and indelicate, in books and conversation, in manners and in language.

(4.) The next thing necessary to good taste is sympathy, by which, supposing ourselves in the condition of other men, we readily adopt their sentiments and feelings, and make them, as it were, our own; and so receive from them some degree of that pain or pleasare which they would bring along with them if they

were really our own. Without this moral sensibility our minds would not be open to receive those emotions of pity, joy, admiration, sorrow, and imaginary terror, which the best performances in the fine arts, particularly in poetry, are intended to raise within us; nor, by consequence, could we form a right estimate of the abilities of the author, or of the tendency and importance of his work.

The last thing requisite to form good taste is judgment, or good sense, which is indeed the principal thing, and may, without much impropriety, be said to comprehend all the rest. Without this we could not compare the imitations of Nature with Nature itself, so as to perceive how far they agree or differ; nor could we judge of the probability of events in a fable, or of the truth of sentiments; nor whether the plan of a work be according to rule or otherwise.

It might also have been stated, that as virtue is the perfection of beauty, the love of virtue is essential to true taste.

Q. What is the chief peculiarity of this faculty?

A. Its great susceptibility of improvement when regularly and judiciously exercised.

Q. What are the chief means of improving it?

A. The study of the best authors, and attention to all the finest models and specimens of composition. Q. What are the chief characteristics of taste?

A. Delicacy and correctness; the one, however, to a certain degree implying the other, though not precisely the same.

Q. In what does delicacy of taste chiefly consist?

A. In a quick and accurate perception of all the finer and less obvious beauties of any performance. Q. In what does correctness consist?

A. In a ready detection of false ornament, and a due appreciation of all the more substantial qualities of a literary work.

Q. Are both attributable to the same source?

J

A. Delicacy of taste is chiefly founded on feeling, and is more a gift of nature: correctness depends principally upon cultivation, and is more allied to reason and judgment.

Q. Is taste ever employed upon any thing besides language?. A. Yes; it may be employed upon all sorts of objects, whether the product of nature or of art.

Q. With what sort of objects is taste chiefly conversant? A. Those chiefly which are distinguished for their beauty or sublimity.

CHAPTER VIII.

OF BEAUTY AND SUBLIMITY.

Q. What do you understand by beauty?

A. An assemblage of properties which renders certain objects of perception highly agreeable.

Q. On what properties does beauty chiefly depend?

A. On shape, color, or the quality of fitness and utility. That which in the smallest compass exhibits the greatest variety of beauty, is a fine human face. It embraces variety, uniformity, proportion, convenience, colors, delicacy, and the expression of moral and intellectual virtues. Human beauty, therefore, at least that of the face, is not merely a corporeal quality, but derives its origin and essential characters from the soul; and almost any person may, in some degree, acquire it who is at pains to improve his understanding, to repress criminal thoughts, and to cherish good affections; as every one must lose it, whatever features or complexion there may be to boast of, who leaves the mind uncultivated, or a prey to evil passions, or a slave to trifling pursuits.

Q. What is sublimity?

A. That quality in objects which, when they are contemplated, excites in the mind sentiments of awe and grandeur; makes us conscious of something like an expansion or elevation of our faculties, as if we were exerting our whole capacity to comprehend the vastness of the object.

Q. On what does the feeling of sublimity chiefly depend?

A. On a perception of immense extent, whether of space, duration, or numbers, and of great power and energy.

Q. Can you give an example of objects remarkable for their sublimity?

A. The Deity; the source of happiness and the standard of perfection; who creates, preserves, pervades, and governs all things; whose power is unlimited, whose wisdom is perfect, whose goodness is without bounds, whose greatness is incomprehensible; who was from all eternity, and of whose dominion there can be no end: he is undoubtedly, and beyond all comparison, the most sublime object which it is possible to conceive or to contemplate; and of all created sublimity, his works exhibit the most perfect and most astonishing examples. Such are the cloudless or starry sky-the troubled ocean-a majestic river-a deafening cataract--a lofty mountain-volcanoes-earthquakes-the solar system-the

universe.

Q. What, probably, was the design of our Creator in bestowing upon us a capacity for deriving pleasure from great and sublime objects?

A. It was, to raise our minds above the present world, and to prepare us for the contemplation of the Divine nature, and of the works of creation and Providence, which will, no doubt, constitute the supreme and final felicity of the good.

Our taste for the sublime, cherished into a habit and directed to proper objects, may, therefore, promote our moral improvement, by leading us to contemplate the Creator in his wonderful works; by keeping us at a distance from vice, which is the vilest of all things, and by recommending virtue for its intrinsic dignity and loveliness.

Q. What gives occasion to the emotion of moral beauty and sublimity?

A. The emotion of moral beauty arises where we observe a coincidence between the sense of duty and certain inferior principles of action. The emotion of moral sublimity is awakened when the sense of duty is opposed by inclination or affection, or by any or all the inferior principles of action, and triumphs over them. Its principle consists in a power of self-control and of self-sacrifice, in those cases in which they are difficult.